What is Wi-Fi Assist?

Wi-Fi Assist makes your iPhone more aggressive in jumping off of Wi-Fi and onto 4G LTE.

There are a few exceptions where Wi-Fi Assist won’t work:

If you’re already data roaming.

If the app trying to use it is in the background. Basically, it only works for apps that are in the forefront and active.

Doesn’t work with most third-party apps that download audio, video, or large attachments such as a video app, music streaming service, or an email app that might download big documents or photos.

Why It’s Awesome

Wi-Fi Assist solves this annoying problem in real life: you’re just on the outer edge of terrible Wi-Fi signal, so your iPhone is desperately trying to use Wi-Fi even though it’s too far away to actually go through.

It happens all the time to me when I’m leaving my apartment, just as I’m getting in my car I have just enough Wi-Fi signal for my iPhone to try to use Wi-Fi instead of LTE, but not enough Wi-Fi for anything to actually work. Sometimes I’ve sat for minutes, even driving around the parking lot before my iPhone will connect to the Internet, which is when I need to be playing my Apple Music playlist or navigating. I often resorted to simply turning Wi-Fi off and back on just to get my iPhone to connect to LTE.